Saturday, January 31, 2009

Kyrgyzstan, Belgium, Turkey and More

This is an update of the cards that I received on Friday. First is a card from Kyrgyzstan. On the front it shows a yurt. A yurt is a portable felt covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure used in Central Asia. The card was issued by The Kyrgyz Community Based Tourism Association. The card was sent by Amber West, a Peace Corp volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.She dated the card Oct 22, 2008 but it was postmarked Jan 09, 2009. When it was from Oct to Jan, I know not. Amber used 4 stamps, 2 different face values, issued in 2008 .

Next up is a card from Belgium. Sent by Johan, he says " Just a little card from my country Vlaaderen for your collection". Now I'm not one to make political waves or points in this blog, but from what I can gather, Vlaanderen is the Flanders region or the norther state of Belgium. Correct me if I'm wrong. The picture on the card shown Diksmuide, a city in the Flemish province of West Flanders. Three stamps were used on this card. Two are from a 2004 sheet of 12 featuring motorcross. The other stamp is from a 20065 set of 6 bird stamps.

Now a card from Turkey. It is the result of a private swap with Gaye Kural. She lives in the capital of Istanbul, a city of 14 million. The card shows a picture of a painting by E Tolunay of whom I know next to nothing. Unfortunately Gaye did not use any postage stamp on the card. Perhaps none was available at the post office. In its place is a paid postage meter stamp. Not quite what I like to see on my postcards.

The final card is from Japan. It shows the 5 story Pagoda of Itsukushima Shrine. The card was sent by Satomi who lives in Toyota City. No doubt named after the famed Toyota car. The stamp that Satomi used is from a 2007 set of 5 fruit and flowers issue.

That's it for the postcards today. I just want to report on my postcard activity for January. In the month of January I received a total of 33 postcards. But, I only increased my country total by 1, and that was Tajikistan. Also, during the month I sent a total of 34 postcards out to 23 different countries. Hopefully I will add a few more new countries next month, since that is the whole idea behind GemsWorldWidePostcards.